


Swords and Pearls

by paynesgrey



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-07
Updated: 2005-04-07
Packaged: 2017-10-13 05:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/pseuds/paynesgrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All who had ever pulled swords from stones were considered to be heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swords and Pearls

The King of Dogs had fallen to his knees before the fidgeting retainer. He was sighing and bleeding, and the small retainer looked at him mournfully. His face was retreating into the shadows under his hunched form. He had such little time left to live, and his life swung back and forth into existence. His body began to deteriorate from burn marks and hollow skin from loss of blood. He didn’t even remember how he had gotten this far, away from the burning castle that was almost his fiery grave.

Life. Death. Life. Death. It was the swinging pendulum of his fate. Wounds may have been mortal, but regrets swelled in eternity.

If only he cold live longer to see the boy’s face and one day hear him say, “Father…”

If only he could hear his other son finally smile and say with acceptance, “Brother…”

He wanted to bargain with the keepers of life and death for just a few more decades of breath. Then, he could hold HER again, but then as he started to daydream, he felt his wishes were only becoming selfish. He let out a cry of pain mixed with laughter.

His thoughts were only wasting his precious time.

With a final bout of strength, he drew the swords and their sheaths from his belt and loosely threw them to the ground. He felt his charred fingers turning to ash as he violated their fragility with a tight grip.

His servant gasped. “My Lord!” The Dog King collapsed, chewing on those last smoky breaths that would allow him to speak only for a moment, and then his soul was to be carried away. His hazy golden eyes looked through the darkness of the forest as his servant cried beside him. The forms of his ancestors beckoned him to them. It was his time to come.

“Myoga…” Inu Taisho had said. The small little flea became quiet to his master’s attention. “Take these. You and Totosai will know what to do. Seal Souunga away, and Sesshoumaru is to receive Tenseiga.” He coughed, causing Myoga to appear even more concerned. “Do you understand?”

Myoga nodded warily. He felt the wind pick up and circle around his master. His master was dying, bringing an inevitable backlash of immense power. He had to leave fast, flee the spot where his master lie and escape the great amount of energy that would be released from his departing soul.

Clouds massed heavily around the sky above them, suffocating the brilliant moon and picking up wind and power from the damp evening air. Energy crackled spears of lightning around him, and Myoga took off in a hurried bounce. He found shelter in a tree, still in sight but just out of reach from the reckless dispersal of energy that accompanied his master’s death. He felt his own small tears sucked off his cheeks and into the whirlwind of chaos.

A great dog demon was dying, and the whole earth would be forced to cry.

Later …

The dust had finally settled. Only residual whispers were left from the chaos that had culminated around the surroundings from the Dog King’s corpse. Among three swords that lie on the ground before the towering skeleton, one sword began to glow and levitate off the ground. It buzzed silently slicing through the frigid wind and disappearing within the decaying networks inside the monumental form. Somewhere inside the massive demon dwelled a round smooth stone. In a piercing jolt, a flash of light slashed through the stone and impaled its rocky husk with one might strike. The blade poised ethereally, and stood in the stone awaiting a great wielder.

All who had ever pulled swords from stones were considered to be heroes.

With reunion of bone on bone, the skeleton massed a final bout of energy and imploded, molding itself into a small tiny black pearl.  
The black pearl dropped to the ground with a soft tweak, rolling over to join the sides of its kindred.

Myoga and Totosai had finally arrived to see nothing remaining of their master. With awed faces, they looked around the barren area to find no trace of him. All that was left was two of his three swords. Totosai had picked them up, handling them with sentimental care and staring at them with a pensive face. He knew what they needed to do.

“Where is Tetsusaiga?” Myoga pondered aloud, paying no heed to the austere black pearl that blended in with the scattered debris.

Myoga shook his head, turning heel and walking toward the lands of the West. “It appears that our master has already taken care of it.” If he knew his master well, he knew that he was true to his intentions.

The youngest son will have the Tetsusaiga fang.

Myoga bounced after him, nervously chatting about avoiding the older brother’s poison claws when presenting him with only one of the three swords. The third sword would also be urgently taken care of, sealed away so no one would dare encounter such a terrible thing.

And as the two remaining servants of the Dog King departed, the lonely black pearl on the ground gave off a faint glow, stealing sunshine and then hiding behind dust.

The wind sighed, and the pearl was gone.

Somewhere far away, an infant began to cry.


End file.
